Rescue (Reovin)
by C. Sinclair
Summary: A young merprince finds himself stranded high up on the beach one day after a storm.


The black-tipped wings of seagulls beat at the disheveled shore of the beach as they made their graceful landings upon the wreckages that littered the golden sand. Large, webbed feet clumsily slapped against the shore as they scuttled through the fragments of driftwood and racks of seaweed - searching hungrily for creatures that had been unfortunate enough to have ended up stranded out of water…

Their luck would be high that hot summer morning, for just hours before - the coastal settlement had been hit with quite a storm. Thunder and lightning raged within the dense clouds, dicing the waves. The reef had grown quiet and the merfolk sought refuge in their underwater settlements - waiting anxiously, praying that their possessions would not be swept away by the powerful undertow, pulled deep to the abyss, or lengths upon lengths away.

His own stupidity had lead to the young merprince finding himself in quite a disastrous situation by the time. How he had not heard the elements raging above was a mystery, even to himself - but when his celeste eyes opened, he was awoken from his slumber as the strong current pulled him from beneath the shallow waves of his secret cove to the ocean's surface.

Cold water stung his lungs as wave upon wave crashed over his groggy body. He recalled his frivolous attempts to beat against the strong force - silvery blue tail failing the churn the water enough him to free him, tips of his webbed fingers only managing to tease the pieces of driftwood and the edges of rocks that erected from the deep blue.

The currents had carried him straight to the shore - unforgivingly sending him grinding across rock and sand, irritating both his fragile skin and scales upon such rough impact. When he had landed - he knew little more than the fact that he was an idiot. He had beached himself. Prince Leonardo, of the Underwater Kingdom of Sarciennes had beached himself, like a two ton whale - nearly 70 metres of the beach, thanks to the risen tides. Such a peculiar land formation, to allow for the tides to stretch so far, and recede just as far.

The water had since pulled back, allowing access to the beach. Had he managed to remain conscious, rather than fainting upon landing himself high upland, perhaps his chances to return to the waves would have been possible. But now…? H-He stood no chance. The sun had replaced the moon - the dampness of the cool summer breeze of the night had been steamed and sizzled by the sun's heat.

It was beneath the shade of a barnacle covered rock where the merprince was stranded. Stretched seemingly lifelessly in the shade, the feathery fins of his long tail poked from out of the shade, silvery scales catching the sun's glare - eyes struggling to remain open. His gills had since closed, sealing shut against his neck, as to protect them. If he wished to live - he had to ensure the safety of as much of his membrane as possible.

Each mermaid had it. A thin covering, a membrane that was ever so slightly slimy to the touch - which protected them from the sun's radiation, above and below the waves. But, per said membrane to work - it had to remain damp… Too much time out of water and in direct sunlight - lead to a mermaid or merman drying out, becoming a lifeless, mummified husk, shrivelled and contorted. The dried membrane fell off Leon's body in sparkling flakes, littering the sand which surrounded him like jagged shards of thin glass - face flushed red with heat stroke.

Any move that seemed possible seemed like suicide. Should he attempt to crawl out from beneath the rock, thus exposing him to the sun - he would become a crisp within seconds. He could call out - but who would help him? He could imagine calling for help would only alert a greedy human - wishing to exploit the merman in one way or another. His only option was to wait for the tide to rise, but even then - it would be too late.

The most he could do was get comfortable, and try his best not to panic over his impending fate. Unfortunately, that was not going in his favour either. A rising temprature was plaguing him with horrid thoughts, and making it very difficult to find comfort… Had he just remained alert, he would not be in this mess. Delirious with his fever, the young prince watched as the gulls shrieked over their findings, shuffling their way along the beach as they continued their scavenger hunt for food, chuckling weakly at the sight of two fighting over a stripe of green seaweed, on which clung a rather confused looking crab.

Though soft in sound - somehow, one of the gulls had turned. It had been a rather scrawny seagull to turn its head, yellow eyes snapping onto the merprince, beneath the rock. Celeste meant amber, and Leon's shoulders tensed as he found himself locked eyes with the bird, who failed to move. The second one of Leon's finned ears twitched with a look of confusion - the gull shrieked, angled wings raising as his head whipped backwards, its shrill cry echoing across the beach. Said gull was quick to lift off from the sand, scrambling to tuck its legs against it as it soared over the sand right at the merprince.

The gull had just found the best meal on the beach - the largest angelfish he had ever seen. Enough to satisfy its hunger for months - heck, enough for two dozen gulls to finish within two to three weeks. The bird was quick to invade Leon's space beneath the rock, chattering as its orange beak opened, grabbing hold of one of the merman's flowing tail fins.

As they were his fins, Leon could not feel the gull's toothless beak snap at the blue membrane - but now was most certainly not the time. "Stupid gull!" Leon snapped as the bird's white wings slapped at the air, as it desperately tried to lift Leon from off the sand. "Let… go of… of my tail!" He ordered, words falling deaf upon the avian.

The fuss up on the shore was quick to attract the attention of other gulls, who wished to compete for this prize they had failed to notice. Those which had been searching beneath the debris on the beach raised their heads, scoping in all directions until their beady, little eyes caught sight of the drama in the shade. Liftoff was instantaneous, and the wings of half a dozen of the gulls filled the air as the mad dash began. Screeching and honking, the gulls fought to reach the prize first - determined to take the merman's fish body for themselves.

Defenseless, Leon cried out in shock as he was pelted by the birds, instinctively shielding his head and neck in his arms as the gulls snapped at his tail. The gulls cried at one another, attempting to ward off the others with such volume, Leon felt he was going to end up deaf before he dried out. He could feel now the gulls pecking at his scales and membrane, chiselling and chipping off the dried coat of his body. He shook himself back and forth, attempting to frighten the birds, yelling as loud as he could: "Let go!" before giving up to letting out tearless cries, which were drowned by the cacophony of the avians. "L-LET GO!"

Timing could not have better for a human to come strolling along the beach. The son of the neighbourhood local fisherman, Erwin Smith, had come down during low tide to survey the damages. He knew he had made the right call by telling the fishermans and sailors to bring their boats up onto the shore - rather than keeping them tethered to the docks. Had they been kept in the water, the chances of the matelots returning to find snapped ropes and the shredded sails of their vessels, but nothing more.

The storm had left more damage than he'd predicted… The beach was in horrid condition… But the seagulls seemed content. The blond's blue gaze was brought towards the chattering of the gulls - thick brows creasing with a look of concern at their odd behaviour. They appeared to be swarming further up the intertidal zone - there must've been quite the find. Naturally, the Aryan was drawn towards the oddly behaving gulls, and from behind their chatters - crying. Not of an animal, but of a human.

Before he knew what he was doing - Erwin found himself running across the sand, approaching the cluster of gulls. "Hey! Hey! Shoo!" The blond shouted out at the birds, using his arms to flick them aside. Some co-operated, and were quick to flap off at the sight of a human - while others were more stubborn - and required a harsher, less forgiving telling from the fisherman's son. It was while the birds began to clear the shadowed area when more and more of the person who had been in such distress became clearer. What he had thought was simply a human revealed to be a creature of lore - a merman, who appeared just a little younger than himself, and still had his head concealed within his arms even after the birds had left.

The blond blinked his eyes in disbelief as he stared down at the humanoid creature before him - marvelling at the sight of something he'd believed to be a figment of active sailors' imaginations. But alas, before him, was a merman. Erwin lowered himself to his knees, examining the pale body and what surrounded it. A slow and cautious hand reached for the sand, two fingers pulling a glass-like sheet, thinner than paper from beneath a bed of white feathers, holding it towards the light. It twinkled like a small diamond - the edges of his find acting as a prism, showcasing every hue of visible light. "How peculiar.." Erwin muttered cautiously before his attention was brought back to the merman, and a gentle hand nudged the prince's side. "Hello?" He said, ever so softly, not wishing to alarm him.

The grim idea of the merman being dead caused chills to run down the length of his spine. It didn't appear that he was respiring in any sort of way. Erwin proceeded to prod the merman once more, until he saw an ear twitch, and weakly, Erwin was looking down at the flushed face of a miserable merman. "Oh, thank God." The golden blond ushered gently as Leon sniffled. "I thought you had died," He admitted, sheepishness buttering his tone as the merman struggled to move.

"The ocean." Leon said before Erwin could go on and make another needless remark. "Please. Please." He began to beg, reaching forwards weakly, pawing at Erwin's knee with a webbed hand. "Water... I need to get back… In the water." He informed Erwin, blue eyes wavering in consciousness. His fever was getting much worse, no thanks to the pesky sky rats. His membrane had been damaged quite substantially and he was aching to feel water over his dried gills.

The request of the merman did go unheard. While Erwin now had many questions - concerning how the merman had ended up so far up on the beach, and how long he had been stranded, he had to comply before the poor thing dried up. "Yes, I'd be happy to." Erwin said, head turning to cascade his blue gaze out across the sand. It would be a bit of a walk in the high sun, and he felt uneasy walking across the stretch of shifting land with this merman… "One moment." He said quickly, excusing himself momentarily to remove his white shirt, popping open the buttons as quick as he could.

"Cover what you can with that," The blond said softly as he passed his shirt down to the merman, who accepted it with a confused look, but proceeded to do as told. He covered his head and flushed shoulders just as Erwin's strong arms came underneath him, lifting him from the shade. The feeling of being carried was a feeling foreign to the blue-tailed merman, but for the first time in hours, he felt safe. Membraneless hands came around to hold onto the human male - beet red face concealing itself in the man's bare shoulder. "There we go, let's get you back home," Erwin chuckled softly, glad the male in his arms had been quick to settle, rather than pitching a fit.


End file.
